Immigrants are an economic stimulus, reform advocates argue

“Conservatives and liberals alike argue that we cannot have more permanent residents while so many Americans are unemployed. This line of thinking would make sense if the economy was a zero sum game, with no flexibility or room for growth. In that case, we could protect jobs for current residents by preventing immigrants from taking them.

“But economies and immigration don’t work that way. Economies grow and shrink according to a number of factors, and immigrants, whether they are apple pickers or scientists, help U.S. economies grow. Often when the immigrant is gone, so is the job, not to mention the tax revenue.”

Rinku Sen, co-author of “The Accidential American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization,” in a column in the Huffington Post today.

Sen references a report by the William C. Velasquez Institute at UCLA, which says legalizing undocumented immigrants would create $4.5 billion to $5.4 billion in net tax revenue, a million new jobs and between $30 billion and $36 billion in personal wealth.